The Spelinspektionen, Sweden’s Gambling Authority, appears to be delving deeper into illegal gambling services on live-streaming platforms by stopping various ‘influencers’ from promoting them.
This is part of a spring investigation from the regulator that looked specifically at online personalities that “used their online platforms to promote illegal gambling.”
In response to finding the aforementioned influencers promoting such products, the authority stated that the individuals were directly targeting “Swedish consumers, which is prohibited under the Swedish Gambling Act.”
More specifically, the promotion infringes Sweden’s Gambling Act (2018:1138) which states that marketing of gambling services to Swedish consumers is prohibited unless the operator holds a valid licence in the country.
At this time, there have been no official punishments dished out such as fines, but since the Spelinspektionen “will continue to monitor influencers and other actors,” if any repeat offenders surface, we’re sure that won’t hesitate in handing out fines or bans.
European countries are acting
This isn’t the first time a European regulator has taken problem with Twitch streamers after the Danish Gambling Authority handed out a fine to an influencer for going against similar laws.
Granted, the personality in question only received a nominal $1,505 fine but at least there was some form of concrete punishment for not adhering to the country’s gambling laws.
With live streaming platforms like Twitch still allowing gambling to be broadcast to its users, albeit in a more constricted form since some operators such as Stake and Roobet were banned from being shown, some regulation has to be done, and its great that some European countries seem to be on top of this.
A complete ban on gambling live streams will never likely occur with players such as Stake-backed Kick firmly rooted in the space, and staying for good. All we can hope for is that these broadcasts are vetted correctly and only advertise to those in the correct countries.
